


Coincidence or Fate, It Doesn't Matter Which

by iamthatmonster



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Orphanage, M/M, but it's years after they were in an orphanage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 02:16:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3833263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamthatmonster/pseuds/iamthatmonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael and Gavin grew up in an orphanage together, but Gavin was adopted when he was 9 and Michael was adopted when he was 11. They run into each other fifteen years later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coincidence or Fate, It Doesn't Matter Which

Michael Jones didn’t believe in fate.

There wasn’t such a thing, not in his mind, and he preferred to think of such things as nothing more than coincidence. It made more sense, logically, and if anyone ever tried to argue that fact, they were never prepared for the argument that followed.

Even when the point brought up was that Michael should simply try to consider the possibility, he would refuse. He told himself, time and time again, that it was simply because it didn’t make sense.

And, in a way, that wasn’t wrong. However, there was another part of the confusing puzzle that was his adamant refusal that Michael didn’t think about. Whenever he did, he quickly shoved the thoughts away, telling himself that they weren’t valid.

For a long period of his life, Michael had lived in an orphanage. In fact, he had been practically raised there, given up for adoption at birth. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been adopted at a young age, for whatever reasons those might have been.

As he got older, and his personality began to develop, Michael began to scare off whatever potential adoptive parents he had. It wasn’t like he meant to, it certainly wasn’t his intention. But Michael had a temper, to the extent that many people had never seen.

This made it especially difficult for him to be adopted, since many people didn’t want to deal with the difficulties that would come with raising a child of his temperament.

Finally, when he was eleven, Michael had been adopted, but his life hadn’t improved much. At first, he was happy to have parents, real proper ones, that weren’t imaginary. But they quickly became irritated with the irrational nature of some of his outbursts and would snap back just as viciously.

As soon as he had turned eighteen, Michael had moved out, and for a while he had been without any form of shelter, until he had managed to get a job washing dishes where he was hardly acknowledged. It wasn’t a great gig, but it was enough to allow him to rent a small apartment and enough food to live.

The real reason Michael didn’t believe in fate, the reason he never allowed himself to reflect on, was that he didn’t want to believe that ‘fate’ would allow him to live a life like he had lived- full of pain and hurt and rejection. It was much easier to tell himself that there was some better reason for it, that he hadn’t simply been destined to be miserable.

But I haven’t always been miserable, Michael thought, internally cringing as the words crossed his mind. There were reasons he didn’t allow himself to think about these things, reasons he tried to ignore the part of him that tried to be encouraging.

That was because the only person that had ever been good to him, who had managed to calm the storm inside of him, made him feel like he wasn’t all bad, had been taken from him when the two were only nine.

Gavin Free had been his name.

The very second the name flashed through Michael’s mind, the man was cringing, tightening his grip on the shopping basket he held in one of his hands. It had been years since he had thought about Gavin, mostly due to the pain that it still caused him.

Of course, he had been happy when Gavin was adopted.

In fact, Michael still remembered the day, the very moment in time when Gavin had come running up to him, his face alight and his tone just as excited as it always was.

———-

Michael was outside when it happened, avoiding his responsibilities and trying to ignore the fact that he even had any.

That was the way it usually went down at the orphanage- if anyone ever asked where Michael was, it was commonplace for the answer to be anywhere except where he was supposed to be.

Though he hadn’t expected to get along with it for very long, the last thing Michael expected when he heard his name being called was to see Gavin racing towards him. The other boy looked happier than Michael could ever remember him being, which was an odd thought.

However, before he could ask what was happening, Gavin was skidding to a stop in front of him. Throwing his arms around Michael’s shoulders and babbling excitedly, Gavin’s words ran together in a way that made it impossible for Michael to recognize a single word.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Gav,” Michael laughed, “what’s going on? What has you so excited?”

“I’m going to be adopted, Michael!”

As bad as it made him feel to admit it, Michael’s world had collapsed in that moment. Even though he knew it to be an unrealistic dream, Michael had always imagined that the two of them would be adopted together, that the two of them would never have to part ways.

Gavin was the only one that had understood Michael, the only one that had ever mattered to him, and it broke his heart that he was going to be ripped away, just like that.

“W-what?”

Confusion washed over Gavin’s face at the quaver in the other boy’s voice, and then he was shooting Michael a curious look. “I said I was going to be adopted, Michael. Isn’t that bloody amazing?”

Swallowing roughly, Michael closed his eyes. He always had been a bit more mature than Gavin, despite the fact that they were nearly the same age. It didn’t surprise him that Gavin hadn’t even considered the fact that they would probably never see each other again.

Forcing a smile onto his face, Michael opened his eyes. “Of course that’s amazing, Gavin,” he said quietly. “I’m glad. You’re lucky, you know.”

Gavin smiled at him weakly, and Michael had a feeling he would remember that conflicted smile for many years to come.

————

Of course he had been happy for him. What kind of friend would he have been if he wasn’t? The other boy was going to have a family, people who cared about him. Michael had just been disappointed that one of those people wasn’t going to be him.

Those were just a few of the thoughts racing through Michael’s head as he walked through the grocery store, absent-mindedly placing objects into his basket.

He wasn’t looking where he was going however, and then he was slamming into someone at what seemed to be much too hard for as slowly as he had been walking. Despite that fact, Michael soon found himself on his ass, blinking several times as the anger started to boil up inside of him.

“What the hell, watch where the fuck you’re going,” he snapped in frustration, grabbing his basket from where it had skidded to a few feet away.

“Bloody hell, I’m so sorry,” came the hasty response, and at the sound of the accent Michael was moving his eyes to fall on the person who had spoken. “I wasn’t, wasn’t looking where I was going, I…”

Michael was sure that the other man was saying something else, but Michael’s mind was racing, far more focused on other things.

It couldn’t be.

The British accent he had picked up from his parents before being given up for adoption, the sandy brown hair that stuck up in all directions, green eyes, a surprisingly large nose-

That was when Michael was cutting off whatever the other man had been saying, a tone of disbelief to his tone. “G-Gavin?”

Michael watched as the man’s eyes widened, head snapping up as he locked eyes with Michael for the first time. “Yeah, that’s my name,” the man replied, ignoring the food that was still scattered across the floor as he pushed himself to join Michael on his feet. “How did you-”

Then he was cutting himself off, eyes going wider still as he sucked in a harsh breath. “Michael?”

Tears were stinging at Michael’s eyes in an instant, and without so much as a second thought he was flinging himself forward, wrapping his arms around Gavin’s body and pulling him into a hug.

“Holy shit,” Michael muttered, trying not to sight happily when Gavin’s arms wrapped around him as well. “Holy fuck. This is impossible, I was just fucking thinking about you, I’ve missed you.” The last phrase was emphasized in a way that almost made Michael embarrassed, but Gavin didn’t seem to mind.

“I- god, Michael. How long has it- shit, I never would have thought-”

“Fifteen years, Gav,” Michael mumbled. “Fifteen fucking years, and I haven’t seen you once. And now I just randomly run into you in the middle of the goddamn grocery store. What kind of bullshit is this?”

“Maybe it’s fate,” Gavin suggested, and then Michael’s body was tensing and he was pulling away.

Wiping a few stray tears away from his eyes, Michael was happy to see that Gavin seemed just as happy as he remembered him to always be. “I don’t believe in fate, my life’s been too fucked up for that kind of shit.”

Neither of them seemed to know what to say after that, but then Michael was swallowing heavily. Fuck it, what did he have to lose.

“Forgive me if I’m being too forward, I know we’ve just- y’know, just seen each other for the first time in years. But just- I’ve missed you. And in all this, all this time, I’ve never come across another person that, that I’ve wanted to be around more. So do you like, want to go to dinner or something?”

As Michael waited for an answer, he internally cursed himself. It had been fifteen years, for fuck’s sake. For all he knew, Gavin was married with kids, or in a committed relationship. Maybe he didn’t care about Michael at all, maybe he had changed, maybe-

Michael’s thoughts were cut off by the sound of Gavin’s voice, and though it hadn’t been the intention, the very tone of it caused a good deal of Michael’s pain to melt away.

“I’d like that very much, Michael.”

And in that moment Michael thought that maybe- just maybe- if fate was real, for once it had just taken a turn in his favor.


End file.
